Chapter 16: Fragments of Truth

The hum of the transport filled the silence as it sped through the darkened skies above The Verge. Kael leaned against the cold metal of the cabin, his mind whirling with Voss's parting words. His body felt as if it had finally caught up to the emotional exhaustion that had been brewing for days. The others—Seraphine, Kane, and Niko—sat across from him, each lost in their own thoughts, the tension in the cabin thick enough to choke on.

Kael rubbed his temples, trying to push Voss's voice out of his head. You are my greatest work.

No, it can't be true, Kael thought. Voss was trying to manipulate me, to break me. He was lying.

But the nagging doubt remained. What if Voss wasn't lying? What if Kael's entire life had been part of a carefully constructed narrative—a long, meticulous manipulation designed to lead him exactly where Voss wanted?

Seraphine caught his eye, her brow furrowed as if she could sense the battle raging within him. Her presence was a quiet anchor in the storm of uncertainty. She had lost her memories and had lived in the dark about her past for so long—yet she still fought, still believed there was a way forward.

"Kael," she said softly, breaking the silence. "Don't let him get inside your head. Voss lives on control, on fear. He twists the truth to make you doubt everything you know."

Kael met her gaze, but before he could respond, Kane leaned forward, the data drive clutched tightly in his hand. "We don't have time for doubts. Voss is down, but Echo Protocol is still running. If we don't figure out how to stop it, everything we've done will be for nothing."

Kael shifted, his focus narrowing on the drive in Kane's hand. That small, unassuming piece of technology was their only hope of dismantling Echo Protocol—the tool that had the power to control the minds of anyone, anywhere. It could erase memories, implant new ones, or even rewrite an individual's entire reality.

"Does it have everything?" Niko asked, breaking the tension. His voice was sharp, his eyes still scanning the night outside the windows, waiting for any sign of pursuit.

Kane nodded, but his expression was tight with uncertainty. "It has the core schematics for Echo Protocol. The trouble is, decrypting it will take time. We're talking layers of encrypted architecture, algorithms I've never seen before, and failsafes. Voss built this system to be practically unbreakable."

"And now it's active," Kael muttered. "We've got a ticking time bomb on our hands."

Niko shifted in his seat, clearly agitated. "So what's the plan? We find a techie and hope they can crack it before the Protocol goes live on a global scale?"

"We don't have that kind of time," Seraphine said. "There has to be another way."

Kael sat up, an idea beginning to take shape in the back of his mind. "Wait. The source code of Echo Protocol—it's not just an external tool, right? Voss said something about being able to control anyone who's been part of it."

Kane frowned. "Yeah. The system interfaces with the implanted memory cores of people. It's like a web, connected across every mind it touches."

"Then there's another way," Kael said, his mind racing. "We've been thinking about this like we need to crack the code from the outside, but what if we don't? What if I can shut it down from the inside?"

The others looked at him, confused.

"What are you talking about?" Seraphine asked.

Kael took a deep breath. "If Voss was telling the truth… if I was part of Echo Protocol all along, then I might have an internal connection to it. He said I was his greatest work, that he's been manipulating me for years. That connection might be a weakness—a backdoor we can use."

Kane stared at him, wide-eyed. "You're suggesting you want to… what? Plug yourself into the core system of Echo Protocol? Do you have any idea what that could do to you?"

Kael's voice was steady, but the implications of what he was suggesting weighed heavily. "If there's a chance that I can stop it, I have to try."

Seraphine's hand tightened into a fist. "Kael, you can't just—"

"I have to," Kael interrupted, meeting her gaze. "If this is how Voss controlled me, it might be the only way to end it for good. We don't have another option."

Kane rubbed his jaw, thinking through the technicalities. "I don't even know how we'd rig something like that, Kael. I'm good with tech, but this is beyond risky. Plugging directly into a system like Echo Protocol could fry your brain, kill you, or worse—trap you inside its network."

Kael leaned forward, resolute. "If I don't do it, it could kill millions."

The weight of his decision hung in the air. Seraphine's face softened, the fear evident in her eyes, but she didn't argue. She understood what was at stake.

"Where would we even do this?" Niko asked. "We can't just walk into some underground tech hub and hope for the best."

Kane glanced at his wrist-com, scrolling through the city's schematics. "There's one place I know that has the gear we need—the old mind-lab at the edge of The Verge. It was shut down years ago after a series of illegal experiments, but the tech should still be functional. I can reconfigure it to interface with the drive and Kael's neural core."

"Then that's where we go," Kael said, his voice unwavering.

Seraphine reached out, her hand brushing his arm, her voice softer now. "You don't have to do this alone."

Kael gave her a small, bittersweet smile. "I think I do."

But deep down, he wasn't just fighting for the world. He was fighting to reclaim his own life—his memories, his choices. And whether or not they had been manipulated, Kael was going to make sure his final decision was his own.

The transport surged forward into the night, the destination set, and the clock ticking down to the moment when Kael would face the truth of who he really was.